


5 Times Arthur and Eames Kissed for Work and One Time They Didn't

by ProblemWithTrouble



Series: Inception Fics [6]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Eames is in love, Kissing, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-14 20:59:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18484249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProblemWithTrouble/pseuds/ProblemWithTrouble
Summary: What it says on the tin





	5 Times Arthur and Eames Kissed for Work and One Time They Didn't

1

Eames had been in dreamshare a long time. Just like Cobb and Arthur he had been there in the beginning. Not many from the beginning were left but those who were had survived that long because they were good at avoiding being caught. Sometimes though, Eames ended up handcuffed with Arthur to the floor in a Russian mobster’s basement because he didn’t like being denied their services. 

Once they had been left alone to rethink their decision, Eames spotted their way out. “Arthur, darling, would you be so kind to hand me that hair pin,” Eames said, nodding to the bobby pin that was sitting about two feet behind Arthur’s back. Arthur twisted himself around and spotted it. 

He twisted back to glare at Eames who only grinned back at him. “I hate you,” Arthur said. He looked down at their wrists and ankles that were handcuffed to each other and to the drainage grate in the floor. They were apparently being very cautious of their escape. What they hadn’t counted on was Arthur taking a swipe at a henchwoman and tearing some of the hairpins from her ponytail. Or maybe they hadn’t counted on Eames’s skill with a bobby pin. 

Slowly Arthur bent himself backwards and Eames stretched forward to give him as much room as possible. With his back flat on the floor Arthur was able to get his mouth around the bobby pin and sit back up. Just as carefully Eames leaned forward and took the pin from his mouth, their lips just barely brushing. 

After that it was only five minutes before they were both out of the convoluted series of handcuffs and were running through the house and stealing a car for their getaway. 

If Eames’s lips were still tingling, then that was just the adrenaline. 

2

 

Despite what Arthur might say and everyone else might think, Eames was a very careful man. He liked to gamble and push his luck, but he knew where his luck ended and he wasn’t keen to get himself killed after all the trouble he had gone through to stay alive. That was why when he saw Arthur again two months later on a different job, he didn’t mention a thing about the basement. He had already heard that most of the higher ups in the organization had been killed and many of the underlings arrested. Arthur, after all, was not the type to forgive and forget. 

Still, he didn’t hesitate in his flirting and lewd comments to Arthur. Stopping would have been meant that something had changed and neither of them needed dream thieves to start poking around them trying to sort out if Arthur and Eames had actually started dating. Or worse that they had been dating the whole time and were now broken up. 

Now, though, was not the time to be thinking about what his fellow thieves were thinking. He knew with perfect clarity that they were just thinking about getting out alive same as Eames. Arthur just happened to get stuck with Eames during the escape. Now was the time to be thinking about how to get Arthur and Eames out of Dublin alive. 

They were hurrying down the crowded sidewalk as the sun was setting between the buildings. “I should just ditch you here,” Arthur grumbled when he turned back around and saw the blonde henchmen were only a block and a half behind them. “That fucking shirt is attracting too much attention.”

“You liked it until we were being chased,” Eames said. 

“You’re delusional.”

“Maybe, but do you trust me?” Eames asked as he spotted a beam of light coming out of a narrow ally and with it their way out. 

“Against my better judgement.”

Four more steps and Eames pulled Arthur into the ally that light was beaming down so brightly that neither could see a damn thing. With any luck they were caught in the glare too. 

With only a few inches between them Arthur started to shed his long coat and they shimmied it over Eames’s shoulders to cover what Arthur thought was a crime against fabric. Pulling on the collar of the shirt he pulled Eames close enough that their breath was mingled.

“Sorry about this,” Arthur said as he caught sight of their pursuer and closed the small gap between them. Eames was by no stretch of the imagination a prude. But the way that Arthur kissed – even just for a disguise – was downright filthy and it would have been easy to get lost in the moment if Arthur wasn’t also watching the henchmen continue on their way. Another minute of silence between them and they slipped out of the ally and headed in opposite directions.

Eames most definitely didn’t check his email every five minutes until he got the all clear from Arthur that they’d both gotten out safe.

3  
It was another job months later that Eames found himself next to Arthur again, pressed closer than Arthur probably wanted. They were at a black-tie dinner party that Eames managed to lie their way into. Eames claimed that he had needed to create a fake husband to truly sell it. It certainly didn’t hurt his cover, but the true reward was seeing Arthur’s face when he had told the team and Arthur had slowly come to the realization that he was that spouse. 

Now they were at a dinner with almost fifty other people and following the mark and her wife who Eames needed to forge. 

“I hate you so much right now,” Arthur grumbled. 

Eames grinned at him; he was having far too much fun with the whole situation. “Don’t say that, darling, we’ve only just gotten married.”

“I want a divorce.”

“After the honeymoon.” 

Despite all of the grumbling Arthur was an expert in his own right at deception and the night was going almost to plan. Eames even thought they might get out of it without having to “prove” their love. 

No one even questioned them as a couple which Eames supposed he should have been a little more curious about. Arthur was surprisingly open with physical contact and Eames had always been fond of pet names. When Arthur just smiled back and squeezed Eames’s hand there was something light and warm that stirred deep in his chest that he let shine through his expression. 

They made it out with the information they needed and were waiting for the valet when suddenly Arthur stepped right into Eames’s space so their chests were almost touching. 

“What are you doing, darling?” Eames asked, though his hands came to rest on Arthur’s sides. 

“Waiting for the car,” Arthur said and looked pointedly at the valet who was talking to one of the security guards.

“Do you think they’re on to us?”

“Maybe, security has been watching us a little too close for comfort all night,” Arthur whispered.

Eames had noticed him too but nothing had come of it so he was trying to not worry too much. “And here I thought he just wanted to get in your pants.” 

Arthur laughed and put his head on Eames’s shoulder. 

Eames bent down to kiss Arthur’s exposed neck and whispered against the skin there “We’ll ditch the car once we’re back in the city.”

Arthur pulled back as the car rolled up with a smile. Eames opened the door and tried not to be disappointed at the sudden loss of contact. 

The best liars believe it when it happens. 

4  
Eames didn’t even make it through the rest of the job before he realized and accepted that he had let his feelings for Arthur go a little farther than he had initially intended. His solution of course was to become as critical as possible. 

Luckily for him, Arthur was more than used to his mood swings, especially toward the end of a job and wrote it off with little more than an eyeroll. The job went off without a hitch and Eames decided to give himself from space. Eames was fairly certain Arthur also wrote off his dodged phone calls with nothing more than an eyeroll too. 

A year later when Eames could think about seeing Arthur again without his mind immediately going to how soft Arthur’s lips were Eames decided to answer a job offer from Arthur when it rolled in. 

_E-_

_There’s work if you want it and aren’t being held captive for trying to steal a small country’s crown jewels. $50k. New York. 3 months. 6hrs to respond or I’m moving on to someone who isn’t on Interpol’s list as 6 different people._

_-A_

Eames managed to keep a straight face while he typed out his reply because he was most certainly not still smitten with someone he hadn’t seen in a year.

_A-_

_You never call, you never write and now you just want me to pick up and go to New York. It’s a good thing the weather is lovely this time of year. I’m on my way._

_-E_

Arthur’s reply contained an address and two names. 

12 hours later when he rolled up to the abandoned office space in the Bronx, Arthur was the only one there and began to brief him on the whole situation. Ariadne was building and they had an extractor, Carina, who they had all worked with multiple times and actually liked. There were no stray jokes or even comments about the last year. It was all very polished and professional. Eames convinced himself he wasn’t disappointed. 

Through the whole job Eames poked and prodded at Arthur but every time he was met with the same cool assessing look that reminded Eames of their first few jobs together, not the person he had worked with all across the globe. Not the person who he had pulled inception with. Eames being Eames, much to the entertainment and delight of Ariadne, continued to push farther and farther hoping to get Arthur to break.

They were in the dream, almost out, when the mark started to realize something was off and Eames, as his wife, was the first to notice after an explosion rocked the restaurant. Arthur met his eyes from across the room and started to make his way over. Eames had no idea what Arthur was going to do when he got to them so he made his own plan. 

Still as the mark’s wife, Eames grabbed Arthur’s arm and pulled him into a kiss, immediately drawing all attention to Eames and Arthur and away from the heist going on next door. 

The music started not a second later. 

When they came to Arthur was the first out of his chair and packing up. They left the mark still asleep in his dentist chair. As Eames walked out next to Arthur the point man grinned at him. “And here I was just going to shoot him.”

5

Eames could handle his alcohol. He knew exactly how much he could drink before trouble started but the drinks were hitting harder than usual as he watched the rugby game in a pub. His head felt light and his carefully crafted impulse control was a shadow of itself. He said the first thing that came to his mind, luckily his work was far from his mind. Unluckily, his comments regarding the bum of one of the other men in the bar was not quite as well received as anticipated. The men’s two friends were also trying to get in on the action of the brewing fight and were towering over him outside. 

“Honey, there you are,” Arthur’s voice cut through the trash talking and the din of the London street like an old favorite song. He came up from behind Eames and wrapped a hand around Eames’s elbow, the grip close to painful. “I know I shouldn’t have said those things to you but did you really need to come get drunk and pick of fight with strangers?” 

“Arthur? What are you doing here? I thought you were in Mumb–“ Eames started but was cut off when Arthur kissed him closed lipped and hard. 

“Let’s get you home,” he said, his voice familiarly cold and hard. He turned Eames away from the three men. Arthur turned back over his shoulder. “Sorry for the trouble.” 

Eames’s head was swimming and the solid feel of Arthur next to him felt so nice that he didn’t try to escape from his death grip. “Where are we going?” 

“Home.” Arthur sounded angry and Eames couldn’t figure out why. He was the one who had interrupted Eames’s night. Eames hadn’t asked to be rescued. Had he? He thought Arthur was in Mumbai. 

“What’re you upset about, darling? I thought you were in Mumbai.” 

“That job ended three days ago. Came here to save your sorry ass.” Arthur stopped next to a car and opened the passenger side for Eames to get in. 

“I was fine,” Eames said as he got in.

“They drugged you, Eames. They were going to take you to Rosales.” Arthur shut the car door while Eames struggled to buckle the seatbelt. 

“No, I hit on them and he got a little touchy about it,” Eames said when Arthur was behind the wheel and the other car door closed. 

“You certainly sped up the plan with that move.” Arthur started the engine as the three men came around the corner. He took off fast. “Get some sleep, Eames. It’s a long drive.” 

“I’m not tired.” Eames was asleep before they were out of London. 

+1

Eames woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom in a soft bed with even softer sheets. He remembered Arthur showing up out of nowhere and dragging him away from the pub but nothing after that. It was hard to think through his splitting headache though. He was still in his clothes from the night before, though his shoes were by the bedroom door and he was only wearing one sock. He found the sock hidden in the blankets hidden in the blankets and he slipped it on and then the shoes as quietly as he could. 

He could hear noise from downstairs and strained his ears to see if he could sort it out. The sound of dishes and pop music playing over a speaker but no talking or singing along to let him know if he was still with Arthur or if someone else had gotten ahold of him. The smell of coffee and toast was what made him walk down the stairs to find out. 

As it turned out it was Arthur who was cooking. He was frying eggs in a large kitchen while wearing a blue sweater and holding a cup of coffee in the hand that wasn’t poking at the eggs with a spatula. 

“Didn’t expect you’d be up this early,” Arthur said over his shoulder to Eames. “There’s milk in the fridge for your coffee.”

Eames went happily to pour himself his coffee. “Rosales?”

“Turns out he had some hypnosis therapy done to deal with some of those nasty childhood issues we used and he unpacked the whole job. He’s been trying to find us for about a month. Apparently he caught wind of you, hired those goons to bring you to him so he could find the rest of us.” Arthur pulled a plate out of a cupboard and dished out two fried eggs to Eames. “Eat.” 

“Then I owe you some thanks,” Eames said as he dug into his eggs at the counter. Arthur pulled the carton of eggs back out of the fridge and started to fry some more.

“What else is new?” 

Eames was quiet while he ate but kept watching Arthur. “I’m serious, Arthur. Thank you.”

Arthur didn’t turn to talk to him but his whole stance went stiff. “I have enough dead friends, Eames. I don’t need to add you to the list.” 

“Careful, darling. You might start to sound like you care.”

“Wish I didn’t,” Arthur said so quietly that it almost got lost under the music. 

“I’m glad you do.” 

Arthur did turn around that time with a smile and everything. “I’ve saved your ass enough.” 

Eames smiled back at him and crossed the kitchen to crowd near him. “I care too,” Eames said and it sounded like a love confession in his ears. 

Arthur stared at him, trying to read him and Eames let him. /No more hiding/, he thought. 

“I’m going to kiss you,” Arthur said. 

“Please do.”

Arthur leaned into him and their lips met. It was far from their first kiss but the warmth that the quick pecks had put in Eames’ heart bloomed until his whole body felt like he’d been filled with afternoon sunshine. He put his hands on Arthur’s waist and pulled him just a little closer as Arthur wrapped his arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. For a while they were on their own planet, nothing else could bother them where they were. 

Then the smell of something burning registered and Arthur pulled back abruptly. “Shit. The eggs.”

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](problemwithtrouble.tumblr.com)
> 
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> kudos + comments = love


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